Future racing classic F-Zero may not have had a new game in years but this indie homage is almost as good as the real thing.

F-Zero GX is one of the few games we’re prepared to describe as perfect. Released jointly on the GameCube and as an arcade game (as F-Zero AX) it was the first major collaboration between Nintendo and Sega, and to this day still the definitive future racing gaming. But, like all F-Zero games, it sold poorly and apart from a couple of half-hearted Game Boy Advance titles saw Nintendo give up on the franchise entirely. The question here is whether FAST Racing NEO is an acceptable replacement.

Although there were future racers before F-Zero on the SNES, such as Powerdrome on the Amiga and S.T.U.N. Runner in arcades, Nintendo’s game was the first to do real justice to the concept. It went on to inspire WipEout, but in recent years neither franchise has been able to find much mainstream success. Nintendo has included significant homages to F-Zero in games such as Nintendo Land and the DLC of Mario Kart 8, but it increasingly feels as if this is instead of a new game rather than as a prelude to one.

That’s the environment into which FAST Racing NEO has been released, a game that is less a shameless clone of F-Zero GX and more of a giddy tribute. It’s also a sequel to WiiWare game FAST Racing League, although in practise the difference between tribute, sequel, and remake is trivial. German developer Shin’en have made a career of creating graphically impressive arcade style games on Nintendo hardware, but they’ve never really had the skill in game design to complement their technical achievements.

Shin’en feel like a developer Nintendo should’ve taken under their wing a long time ago, but all there’s ever been is a loose affiliation. That said, FAST Racing NEO is definitely their most accomplished game so far, as is obvious from the second the game starts and you get a sense for its breathtaking speed and surprisingly complex tracks.

Importantly the vehicle handling is also good, pitched somewhere between F-Zero and WipEout in terms of the sensitivity of the handling. It’s never quite as satisfying as either, but there is an interesting gimmick where your ship can switch polarities between two colours. The tracks are filled with coloured turbo boost strips and if you’re the right colour when you pass over them you’ll get a boost.

There’s also a separate turbo boost that you can store up and use simply by collecting power pills. What there isn’t though, is anyway to nobble your opponents, either with weapons or anything more than than simply knocking into them on purpose. That’s fine, but your ship can be easily destroyed by the scenery and it’s often not clear why – as some knocks or falls are handled without a problem and other similar ones kill you instantly.

This is nowhere near a game breaker though and instead most of FAST Racing NEO’s problems are simply that the game isn’t as carefully designed and perfectly refined as the one it’s desperately trying to be. The tracks often look hugely impressive, with giant sandworms rearing out of the ground and asteroids floating dangerously towards you, but the actual design is still fairly pedestrian compared to the real F-Zero GX. Instead the difficulty comes more from the infallibility of your opponents than the cleverness of the course design.

FAST Racing NEO (Wii U) – not a poor man’s F-Zero, more a middle income earner’s

The robotic artificial intelligence was a real problem with FAST Racing League, but like everything else in this sequel the issue has been addressed and improved – if not entirely removed. What we have no complaints about though are the game modes, with several tiers of Grand Prix style championships, time attack, and the unlockable Hero mode – where your boost energy is also your health and if you wipe out (pun intended) that’s it.

There’s also both split screen four-player multiplayer and eight-player online, although we’ve not had much chance to test out the latter yet. For £11 it’s a great little package, unless you consider the idea of playing an inferior, but still very good, version of a great game to be intrinsically unappealing.

Given the quality of the graphics though, which run at a super smooth 60 frames per second, you can’t help but wish that Nintendo had made this an official F-Zero game, helping out with the design and increasing the budget. But if this is all we’re getting we wouldn’t be too fast to dismiss it.

FAST Racing NEO

In Short: It certainly looks the part, but although this never plays quite as well as F-Zero GX it’s close enough that most fans will forgive its lack of refinement.

Pros: Fantastic visuals that run at a lighting fast speed and a silky smooth 60 frames per second. Lots of game modes, including off and online multiplayer.

Cons: The track design is rarely as interesting as the visuals, and the handling is similarly middle of the road. Inconsistent deaths from track damage and falls. Frustratingly competent computer racers.